Courier Post - 8/27/10 Article

[sorcerer999]

STEVIE NICKS NEW ALBUM WILL DEBUT 30 YEARS AFTER HER FIRST - "BELLA DONNA"
The solo side of Stevie Nicks performs in Atlantic City Tonight
Courier Post
BY WILLIAM SOKOLIC


Stevie Nicks admits she's led a double life since the early 1980s. In one life, the ethereal singer stands front and center as a mainstay of the celebrated Fleetwood Mac. In the other, she flies solo.


And she couldn't be happier with the two sides of Stevie Nicks. The crossover keeps the juices flowing, keeps boredom at bay.


"Now I go back and forth and it's proved quite wonderful for me. I do Fleetwood Mac till I'm run ragged. I run ragged till the music plays out as Stevie Nicks. It's worked well all these many years," she said in a phone interview last week.


The solo Stevie Nicks brings her entourage to the Etess Arena at Trump Taj Mahal tonight as part of a very short tour this month, which included an earlier benefit concert for a cancer-stricken girl in Santa Barbara.


Meantime, Nicks has been busy in the studio recording her first solo album of new material since "Trouble in Shangri-La" in 2001, with the Eurhythmics' Dave Stewart as producer.


An Arizona native, Nicks has sold over 120 million albums, both solo and with Fleetwood Mac. She has seven Grammy nominations and, with Fleetwood Mac, won a Grammy for Album of the Year for "Rumours." As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.


With an almost ten year lag, Nicks said she wasn't going to make a new record. "But I woke up one day and said "I'll do it even if only one person buys it."


And she's glad she came to that conclusion. "I'm having the best experience I've ever had," Nicks said.


Working with Stewart on songs together was a first, she said.


"I've never written before with anyone in the same room. It never appealed to me. But this opened my eyes why Lennon and McCartney did this great writing as a team," she said.


Stewart also provides something Nicks lacks when creating a song: an almost endless supply of chords. "I know four chords on guitar and not as many on piano. Imagine what I can do with ten chords," she said.


The expanded musical vocabulary translates to expanded lyrical capacity as well. "I go through my poetry and pick something out. With Dave, I'm able to get more of each poem in there. I get these great whole stories in the songs," she said.


So far, she's worked on nine songs with Stewart. "The songs are spectacular. Another five were just mine. Once we weave it all together, it'll be fantastic," she said.


Don't expect Nicks to preview any of the spectacular songs in Atlantic City. "I never do songs I'm working on. Otherwise they'll be on YouTube the next day."


Nicks also believes playing new songs short changes the audience.


"If I go see my favorite band and they take out "Rhiannon" and "Stand Back" to put new ones in I would be disappointed. You can't make people listen to a bunch of new material no matter how good it is. I learned that a long time ago. We did that with (Fleetwood Mac's) "Rumours" tour and we almost got booed off stage."


Next year when the album comes out, she'll do up to three new numbers on stage.


The as-yet untitled record will debut 30 years after Nicks' first release, "Bella Donna," which yielded such hits as "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace," "Edge of Seventeen" and "After the Glitter Fades."


As for the other side of Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac is on hold right now. "When I'm done with this project I'll go back to Fleetwood Mac. I'm loyal to the group. I love my band," she said.

Stevie Nicks performs at 8 tonight at Etess Arena at Trump Taj Mahal, 1000 Boardwalk. Ticket are $116, $96 and $76 and can be obtained by either calling Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420, on the web at www.ticketmaster.com or in person at the Taj Box Office. For box office hours and more information call (609) 449-5150.


I hope that by the time she tours for this record, she will rethink her decision to only do three new songs. She gave us 6 on the TISL tour, while still being faithful to her hits...and I LOVED THAT!

BTW - Almost booed off stage during the Rumours tour? Somehow I doubt that.

[Hawkeye]

I have a feeling Stevie's leaning towrds this as an album title:

"Don't put this **** on YouTube"

And in 2012 when Lindsey's critiquing her grammar on her new song "Oil Spill Woman" because Stevie's all about having at least one current event song per album now, She's got a new line. No more Bob Dylan, now she can say:

" You wouldn't say that to one half of Lennon-Mcartney would you, because they'd say we write what we want and no Lindsey you can't be the other half, because I don't write with you.. ever. You have to be George Harrison. Now why don't you and your guitar go and weep about how i write things like " I went to the store, then she can came back from the store and then when you got home she remembered **** i forgot the milk and then I went back to the store YEAAAAA"

[mikebise]

It's true. The band went on tour in 1977 right as Rumours was released, so only "Go Your Own Way" and "Silver Springs" were known. They did almost every song from the album and got a lot of negative feedback from the audiences, who were unfamiliar with the new tracks, preferring to hear the 1975 and pre-1975 stuff instead. People wanted the hits and popular songs, not unknown stuff like "Gold Dust Woman" and "Songbird".

Wild, huh?

[kathy1]

thanks for sharing the article with us.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by mikebise

It's true. The band went on tour in 1977 right as Rumours was released, so only "Go Your Own Way" and "Silver Springs" were known. They did almost every song from the album and got a lot of negative feedback from the audiences, who were unfamiliar with the new tracks, preferring to hear the 1975 and pre-1975 stuff instead. People wanted the hits and popular songs, not unknown stuff like "Gold Dust Woman" and "Songbird".

Wild, huh?

They'd also done "You Make Loving Fun" live LONG before the album was released (and "Go Your Own Way" was a concert staple well before the "white album" tour ended) Until Rumours hit #1, there was still a decent number of pre-75 material included in the set: "Station Man", "Oh Well, "Green Manalishi", two or three of Christine's, "Tell Me All The Things You Do", "Sunny Side Of Heaven", even the occasional "Rattlesnake Shake" (how this one with Lindsey singing escaped bootleg recordings amazes me to this day). As I recall, they didn't do "Silver Springs" very much, maybe just a handful of times, and never at a show I attended. Granted, by the middle of summer '77, the only pre-'75 song that was left was "Oh Well", but Rumours was flying off record store shelves by then. The only song from the album that wasn't played that tour was "I Don't Want To Know"....and "Don't Stop" was only played during the latter shows, once it was released as a single.

I don't recall much (if any) negative feedback from the audiences at the '77 (both year and seemingly # of ) shows I was at...everybody went ape-**** over EVERY SONG, new or not. Maybe the SoCal audiences were just more accepting than the rest of the country, I don't know.

[APerfectLie]

3 new songs? Christ woman. This is the best album you've ever done and you are only going to do three of the songs on stage? I can see she really wants to push that album. Ugh.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

3 new songs? Christ woman. This is the best album you've ever done and you are only going to do three of the songs on stage? I can see she really wants to push that album. Ugh.

Compare that to Pink Floyd. They used to come out & play ONLY their latest album in order...then the "second set" was the previous album in order...the encores were the "popular tunes"...like in '76, they came out & played the Wish You Were Here album in its entirety...took a break, came back & played Dark Side Of The Moon...encore was "One Of These Days" & "Echoes" from Meddle (the album just prior to DSOTM). Do you think Pink Floyd fans bitched about it? Uh...no.

Same with Neil Young...unless he's playing a "hits" tour, he plays his latest stuff...then plays random "hits" during the encore.

Just shows ya how out of touch Stevie Nicks & Fleetwood Mac ARE with their fanbase. Or, how little they really care...they still are trying to appease the ever dwindling casual listener and not the still rabid fanbase which is keeping their careers ongoing.

[mikebise]

In 2001, for the Trouble in Shangri-la tour (most recent album), Stevie performed:

"Planets Of The Universe"
"Every Day"
"Sorcerer"
"Too Far From Texas"
"Bombay Sapphires"
"Fall From Grace"

That was pretty ambitious! I know in Dallas all of the new songs were received enthusiastically, but I think that wasn't true everywhere, and a few of them were dropped as the tour rolled on. I'm glad I got to experience them all!

Just like Stevie kept trying to revive "Running Through The Garden" and "Destiny Rules" in both 2003 and 2004, neither one "stuck", despite being fresh new songs to perform. I know WE want to hear everything NEW NEW NEW, but maybe Joe Public can only take 3-4 "beer/bathroom songs"?

[mikebise]

Sorry, I'm about as hardcore and rabid a Stevie Fan as there is, but I still want Stevie performing her hits while on a tour for a new album. It displeased me to no end in 1987 and 1989 to not get to experience "Rhiannon" on those tours ("Rhiannon" was dropped in 1987 before they made it to Texas). Nope, I need "Rhiannon" and "Edge of Seventeen" and "Stand Back" in there, along with the best of the new songs that Stevie has chosen.

Yeah, like the rabid fanbase would have supported Street Angel performed in its entirety in 1994... Or, even worse, Behind The Mask in 1990...

[Lee]

"Don't expect Nicks to preview any of the spectacular songs in Atlantic City. "I never do songs I'm working on. Otherwise they'll be on YouTube the next day.""

Well, so what? Heart played (in AC) I believe three new songs BEFORE they've released their new CD, & the audience loved them. I know Stevie hates the Internet, but I don't think she realizes just how popular YouTube is & how many people see it. I've heard of people getting record deals just by releasing their music on YouTube. It is good to get the word out that she's got new music coming out & to let everyone preview it.

Lee

[mikebise]

Lee, Stevie has already given deeper explanations about what she means by that: she wants to recreate that "first impression" of listening to an entire album for the very first time. She wants for the listener to feel it's like an Event, not just a bunch of bootlegged songs. She doesn't care if it sells big; she's not trying to use new technology to "break" an album. She wants to create an experience.

I think it's a cool experiment and hope it works!!!